In This Issue – The Public Sphere

Issue № 6 | December 2009

The Public Sphere — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 05:15:54 +0000

What is “health,” and what does it mean to be “healthy”? In this issue, Breanne Fahs queries how we, along with the pharmaceutical industry, have come to redefine mental, emotional, and sexual health. Meanwhile, Helen Heightsman Gordon’s poem reflects on caretaking. Alex Jay Kimmelman reminds us that people once traveled to find healthier climates in the Western U.S.A., while Hope Miller reflects on a last breakfast before leaving the Western state of Utah. Luke Perry offers insights into the exceptionalist bent of U.S. political culture that underlies a contentious healthcare debate, and James K. Walker examines alternative approaches to the body in Le Parkour in Britain.

This is the last issue of The Public Sphere until September 15, 2010, when The Public Sphere will return from a brief hiatus. Because much of the magazine will stay the same, we will accept submissions until August 15, 2010.

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Issue № 5 | September 2009

The Public Sphere — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 06:13:27 +0000

While questions of “identity” may seem very 1990s and pre-Facebook, certain discourses surrounding summer events, like the nomination of now-Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, remind us that questions of “identity,” individual and collective, still remain with us in a globalized age. Valerie Bailey finds that her best friends all share a uniquely common bond, the cultural memory of being ancillary to someone else’s meta-narrative, while Colin Dickey meditates on the study of phrenology and our changing assumptions about identity. Living life in the hyphen, Sheila Espineli explores the complexities of her first visit to the Philippines, the country in which her parents were born, and Cesar Gomez remembers his grandmother and the lessons from her Andean youth that impacted his California childhood. Carrie Hawks’s art work initiates many questions about how we imagine women’s sexuality. Following the death of Michael Jackson, Paloma Ramirez wonders about the future of fame in the age of the internet.

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Issue № 4 | June 2009

The Public Sphere — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 04:09:35 +0000

We at the The Public Sphere are celebrating a one-year anniversary since we ran our test issue 0. Given the myriad anniversaries honored in 2009, from the French Revolution to the Chinese revolution to Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez”s show, Aló Presidente, it seemed an appropriate time to ponder the power and meaning of anniversaries while considering the complex issues confronting us in daily life regardless of annual recognitions. Linda Levitt takes up the impending 40th anniversary of the moon landing, querying mediations of NASA”s space explorations. Meanwhile, T.R. Kiyoshi Oshiro questions the role anniversaries play in individual lives, and Mohammad Razi reflects on his own anniversary, having lived through the Iranian Revolution. Continuing explorations of life as a Filipina American, Lauren Espineli examines the importance of language and public recognition in her own life. Responding to Mark C. Taylor”s editorial on the nbso crisis of U.S. higher education, Marc Lombardo fathoms both the deeper source of Taylor”s use of crisis as descriptor while also considering how we might better understand the state of the university. Missing her local video rental store, Paloma Ramirez wonders about what we have lost in our transition from physical to virtual consumerism. Finally, Nikhil Thakur considers the five issues Republicans must confront if they hope to revive their party in the next four years.

photo credit: erix!

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Issue № 3 | March 2009

The Public Sphere — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 14:54:01 +0000

As spring begins in the Northern Hemisphere, pieces in this issue of The Public Sphere fathom the hopes, limits, possibilities, and problems of seasonal shifts and moments of personal or social change. Taking a cue from U.S. attorney general Eric Holder, Valerie Bailey considers that liberal Protestants, and the U.S., more broadly require a new confession that addresses pervasive moral cowardice, and Jacqueline Hidalgo engages Ugly Betty in the non-postracial era. Breanne Fahs wonders if and in what ways Natalie Dylan’s sale of her virginity is and is not a feminist act. Jeremy Fernando explores the ritual necessities of Valentine’s Day, while Paloma Ramírez finds inadequate romantic comedies to be a cultural curse. In more artistic meditations, Hope Miller reflects on a road trip to Utah, and Geoshino Ollscia ponders seasonal rains. Finally, Katy Scrogin weighs the value of violence in artistic truth.

photo credit: -basti-

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Issue № 2 | December 2008

The Public Sphere — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 14:10:00 +0000

Winter in the northern hemisphere is a season of shortened days and long nights, but after the solstice in December, the daylight changes shade and duration. This December, we hover on the edge of 2009, and in the United States of America, we stand before a uniquely historic inauguration of a new President. None of the articles in this issue directly address that particular imminent moment, but they do all address aspects of seasonal and non-seasonal changes. Derek Catsam argues for significant modifications in stadium and airport security if the U.S. government and its people are to be and feel more safe. Both Breanne Fahs and Paloma Ramirez take up the passage of Proposition 8 in California, and while Ramirez suggests that fear of change fails to recognize the rights of many, Fahs argues that real civil rights recognition requires a reframing of the entire question of marriage. Rosa Guzmán wonders about the fate of Mexico and whether the country verges on civil war. In the first of a series of columns reflecting on being Filipina in the U.S., Sheila Espineli fathoms the possible alterations to the profile of Filipinos in U.S. cultural life. Sara Moslener weighs the dramas of Orwellian adolescence in an evangelical high school when a girl has her first kiss. Reflecting on divorce, T. R. Kiyoshi Oshiro examines the mutable nature of relationships and permeability of time itself. Finally, Katy Scrogin demands people rethink the underlying concepts of the not-so-cute catchphrase, “Jesus is the reason for the season.”

Individual authors may disagree with each other’s positions in this magazine—a dissonance that we believe is central to conversation in the public sphere. We invite you to read our queries of public life, and then to respond with your own thoughts.

photo credit: cathyse97

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Issue № 1 | September 2008

The Public Sphere — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 15:27:43 +0000

Welcome to the first official issue of The Public Sphere. We have titled this issue “Global Responsibility.” After a summer of Olympics in China, hurricanes in the Caribbean, snide repartee between Vladimir Putin and Dick Cheney, and the official start of the presidential election campaigns, it is time to reflect on what it means to be responsible in our actions towards the world. While every piece may focus on something more local, each piece still queries something we may have taken for granted about politics, religion, culture, and media. Valerie Bailey reflects on the Sarah Palin as archetype within conservative evangelical Christian subculture. John Cochran‘s essay discusses how one manages the climate crisis through a transformation of consciousness. David Dault examines the dissolution of medical ethics in the midst of the U.S. healthcare crisis. Jacqueline Hidalgo‘s photo essay presents images of U.S. religious life found along the road side when traveling from California to New York, while Marc Lombardo diagnoses the disease of U.S. democracy. Sourena Mohammadi‘s photo essay excavates the complex relationships between martyrdom and culture in Iran, and Paloma Ramirez remains indignant over New York City’s attempt to control her eating habits. Finally, Katy Scrogin asks us to reconsider if economic growth can really measure the health of U.S. society.

Individual authors may disagree with each other’s positions in this magazine-a dissonance that we believe is central to conversation in the public sphere. We invite you to read our queries of public life, and then to respond with your own thoughts.

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Issue № 0 | July 2008

The Public Sphere — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 04:08:18 +0000

Welcome to the first issue of The Public Sphere. We have titled this issue “debut,” as it is our very first issue and not quite volume one. Only members of the core staff have contributed essays and art for this initial issue. Each piece queries something we may have taken for granted about politics, religion, culture, and media. Lauren Espineli”s photo essay considers how her trip to Egypt defied her expectations. Valerie Bailey Fischer examines desires to be a Good Samaritan in a road trip through Israel and Palestine. Jacqueline Hidalgo considers how our quests for transformation must be coupled with practices of everyday life. Marc Lombardo traces the limits that our current remembrance of Martin Luther King, Jr. place upon our own efforts to transform the world. Paloma Ramirez wonders how text messaging became an acceptable part of dating practice. Katy Scrogin asks us to think about what we really mean by and want in “friendship” now that we can befriend everyone on MySpace.
Individual authors may disagree with positions taken by other authors in this magazine. We think that such dissonance is central to conversation in the public sphere. We invite you to read our initial queries of public life and then to respond with your own thoughts.

Next Issue:

For our first official issue, The Public Sphere seeks essays and art that query public life. We especially seek pieces that explore the topic of “global responsibility.” What questions arise from the Beijing Olympics? What challenges for global citizenship are posed by the foreign policy platforms of John McCain and Barack Obama? What possibilities and limits for global engagement does the Internet make possible? If you are interested in writing for our next issue, please submit your piece via email in either .rtf or .doc format to thepublicsphere@gmail.com by August 15, 2008. Essays should be no longer than 2000 words. Artistic interpretations should be submitted in .jpg format. Poetry and short fiction are also welcome.

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